


If Words Could Make Wishes Come True

by Samking



Series: Time in a Bottle [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Young Avengers
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Alteration, Minor Character Death, Post-Civil War (Marvel), Trying to move on in life, he's already dead when story starts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 05:24:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4612824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samking/pseuds/Samking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and Wanda cope with the fall out of the Avenger's Civil War and the death of Steve Rogers. Aiding in their grief process are Wanda's baby boys Billy and Tommy. But when you're a fugitive stability is an illusion, and the sacrifices you have to make are the hardest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Words Could Make Wishes Come True

 

_If I could save time in a bottle_

_The first thing I’d like to do_

_Is to save everyday till eternity passes away_

_Just to spend them with you_

__

Wanda smiled down at the two little forms lying in the bassinet below, twins who would have guessed. They were sleeping now though they’d be up soon, hungry no doubt. Or needing a diaper change. Or something. She’d read a lot of books during her pregnancy about babies, but still she felt wildly underprepared for this. Motherhood. She could hardly remember her own mother, dead these past thirteen years, she could remember her smile, the sound of her voice when she laughed. Little things, happy things, things to keep her warm during the cold winters of Sokovia, not how to be a mother. Her phone vibrated with a text bringing her out of her daze, a text from Natasha, a reminder that she is not as alone as she sometimes feels.

**How are you?**

That’s an easy one to answer. **Tired**. She responds, she still hasn’t fully recovered from nearly a full day of labor giving birth to the twins two days ago. The redhead will stop by soon, she promised to. Clint and Laura were there yesterday when she came home, giving her a break from the twins that she hadn’t realized she’d needed till she got it. Natasha’s response is to send her a text of two year old Nathan with a huge mess around him. She chuckles, at least the twins can’t make messes yet. One day they will. Her brother used to make the biggest messes, he could never focus on one thing for too long. And she would focus on something all day, mostly her drawings. She’d wanted to take art lessons, but the civil war had broken out and suddenly art lessons seemed so trivial. And then there had been the years on their own, just her and her brother, barely making it through. There hadn’t been a lot of times for drawing after joining the Avengers, till everything fell apart.

One of the twins began to cry, at first she thought it was Tommy, the more vocal of the two, only to pick him up and realize it was Billy. “Hey there.” She cooed, bouncing him in her arms. He calmed down once he was settled into his mother’s arms, and luckily without waking his brother up. She laughed a little bit, she was doing this, on her own. And maybe, just maybe she could do this, give these boys a life of happiness. “Hey there, Billy.” She wished Pietro was here so he could meet them, he would have loved them.

And then Tommy began to cry, and Wanda wished she had an extra set of hands.

~Time in a Bottle~

Natasha came the next day, and she brought Bucky with her. Bucky who was still a little unstable, and unsure of himself, and reeling from a loss that rivaled the pain Wanda felt from losing Pietro. “They’re beautiful, Wanda.” Natasha said picking Tommy up and holding him above her head smiling at him. Bucky sat on the couch awkwardly looking at Billy like he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with him.

“Thank you.” Wanda said, “Would you like anything to drink?” Both of her guests shook their head, which might have been for the best since she wasn’t sure what she had in the house anymore.

“Do you need anything, help, or a chance to just be by yourself?” Natasha asked. “You can pick him, he won’t break.” The latter statement was direct at Bucky who still looked like he didn’t know what to do with Billy.

“What are their name?” Bucky asked.

“Thomas Pietro Maximoff, I call him Tommy.” Wanda said, indicating to the twin Natasha was holding.“And that’s William, William Rogers Maximoff, Billy for short” She glanced at Bucky for his reaction, she hadn’t been sure about giving Billy Steve’s last name for his middle name, wasn’t sure it was the right way to honor her friend. But Bucky didn’t seem offended by it, at least not that she could tell, and she was good at reading people even without using her powers.

“Steve always wanted kids.” Bucky said, reaching out to touch Billy with his non-prosthetic hand. “He was great with them too, used to tell the kids in the old neighborhood stories. He would have loved them. He’s so soft.” The last comment was quieter than the others, as if he wasn’t sure to say it outloud. The loss of Steve Rogers had hit them all hard, even those who had sided with Tony in the dispute some called the Avengers Civil War, he had been a steadfast light to all who knew him. Never wavering from his beliefs. He had been the first she had trusted after joining the Avengers, the first she was able to open up to after losing Pietro. And now he was gone too. Bucky hadn’t stopped looking lost since his death, she knew that look, she’d seen it on herself after Pietro died. It was one you gained when one half of you died.

“What about you, did you want kids?” Wanda asked, playing with one of her necklaces as she did so. Not sure it was the right question to ask.

“Yeah.” Bucky said, looking at Billy and then to her. “Yeah, I wanted them too. Maybe Steve and I could have adopted if-” He didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t need to. Billy began to cry, and Wanda moved to pick him up, but Bucky beat her to it, looking a bit surprised at himself. Gently he held Billy in his arms.

“You did it.” Natasha said smiling. “I told you, you would be able to hold them.” Wanda smiled at the look on Bucky’s face, he still hadn’t gotten over the shock of being able to pick up the infant without hurting him.

Billy was sensitive to emotions, this was something she could already tell in his first three days of life. If she began to feel sad or distressed he began to cry, how he could tell her emotions already was still a mystery. Tommy on the other hand displayed none of his brother’s tendencies, he just couldn’t focus on anything when he was awake, his eyes would dart around everywhere as if he was trying to take everything in. She’d read though that babies did that sometimes, it would take time for him to be able to focus.

“No, don’t put that in your mouth.” She glanced up at Bucky to see that Billy was attempting to put one of Bucky’s metal fingers into his mouth. “Bad baby.” It was the first time she’d ever seen Bucky that relaxed before.

“You want to switch?” Natasha asked, Bucky shook his head.

“Do you mind if I go upstairs to take a nap?” Wanda asked, the babies woke up every two hours to be fed while they were still figuring out their nights and days, and with two of them it took twice as long to feed, burp, and change and then repeat.

“No,” Natasha said, “Go ahead. We’ll take care of them. They can’t be too hard.” Wanda chuckled.

“They have bottles in the fridge, Tommy likes his lukewarm so feed Billy first if they get fussy.”

“Go Wanda, take care of yourself.”

Bucky and Natasha stayed for the next three days helping Wanda out around the small house she’d bought not too far from San Francisco where what was left of Steve Rogers’s Avengers were now hiding out. Hank Pym, the founder of a research company and a very rich man, apparently had a dislike of all things Stark and so he’d offered them protection and a place to regroup, and hide from Stark and his Registrationalists. Bucky came back about a week later under the guise of wanting to know her opinion on something that happened in the news concerning the “Superhuman Registration Act” as it was commonly called, but really she knew that he wanted to make sure that she was getting enough sleep and to see the twins. He came by rather frequently after that.

~Time in a Bottle~

The twins were three months old when a rather drunk Bucky showed up at her door, it was the first time Wanda had seen him this messed up since right after Steve died. He didn’t often wear his emotions on his sleeve, Steve had once mentioned during their time together that he’d often found Bucky to be charming before the war, but obviously being a world class assassin had changed that. “Bucky? Are you okay?” She asked as he practically fell onto her couch. It wasn’t any anniversary that Wanda knew about, Steve’s death was in a month, and she hadn’t seen anything about the Superhuman Registration Act today in the news, probably a first in the past year. Which made drunk Bucky laying all over her couch all the more a mystery.

“Ugnh,” Bucky moaned. “Saw Hank Pym today.” That wasn’t too much to be distressed over, Hank Pym was financing their attempt at being vigilante superheroes, Wanda hadn’t been in the field yet due to her pregnancy, but she was hoping maybe when the twins were older to help in some capacity. Wanda sat down knowing that this could be a long story. “Well, I knew I was going to see Pym today, he asked to see me.” Bucky babbled. “He talked to me a lot about image, and personal loss.” Bucky sat up a little and looked straight at her. “Did you know he lost his wife trying to stop a nuclear bomb from hitting the United States?” Wanda shook her head as Bucky went back to be horizontal against the couch. “Well yeah he did. And then he dropped a bombshell.”

Wanda waited a few moments to hear what the bombshell was that Pym had dropped on Bucky but he stayed silent. He wasn’t sleeping, he was just staring at the ceiling. “What did Pym want?” she asked slowly.

“He built a suit, Wanda. He replicated Steve’s suit, made it better, bullet proof for one. He showed it to me along with Steve’s shield. I thought they buried that with him.” Bucky sounded more sober now then he had before. Wanda looked down at her lap, the couple of days after Steve’s death were a blur, they were on the run fugitives from the law, she’d just found out she was pregnant, they had all been grieving, and none of them could attend the funeral for Steve Rogers like they had wanted to.

“I don’t think Stark or someone else would have allowed that much vibranium to go to waste. T’Challa has banned its trade to the United States, and even the illegal trade doesn’t give the United States government the amount that is in his shield.” Wanda admitted. Growing up in Sokovia the United States had been the best place in the world, the land of the free, the place where dreams were made. But living here she’d learned that parts of the United State’s government was no better than her home in Sokovia. Wanda absentmindedly wondered if Scott Lang retrieved it for Pym. “Why did Pym show you it?

“He wants me to wear it.” Bucky said slowly. He sat up and looked at her. “He wants me to take on the mantle of Captain America.” Oh. She could understand why Bucky was so upset, Steve was Captain America, he had been so since the forties. Trying to step in and take his place was a horrifying thought, it would be like someone trying to step in and be her brother, it wouldn’t be right.

“What did you say?”

“No, I couldn’t do it. Pym says thats fine. He didn’t seem too upset, he just said it would be there if I ever changed my mind.” Bucky sighed. “I can’t take Steve’s place, I won’t. I don’t deserve to, he was so good, and I’ve done so many bad things, I’m couldn’t be Captain America.”

“I understand.” Wanda said, “But I think that if Steve wanted anyone to take up the mantle of being Captain America after him, he’d want you to do it.”

Bucky’s response, if he was going to respond to her was cut off by the cries coming from the baby monitor. Wanda sighed, the twins had been doing so well with their days and nights recently. “I’ll be back.” She said hurrying up the stairs to the nursery. It was Billy crying, and Tommy looked to be on the verge of waking up as well. She carried Billy back downstairs. “I think he knew you were here somehow.” Bucky snorted, but allowed the infant to be placed in his arms.

“He always knows when someone’s upset.” Bucky said offhandedly. Wanda nodded, her younger son did have that uncanny ability. “I wish Steve was here.” Wanda glanced over at the sketch on the wall of her brother, she and Pietro hadn’t really ever had time to take photos of each other, and what she did have hadn’t been anything recent. Steve had been really kind to draw the picture of Pietro for her, he looked to be in mid-run with the teasing smirk on his face she was used to. She was glad Steve had drawn him this way, any other way it wouldn’t quite be the brother she’d known.

“If words could make wishes come true.” She murmured and then turned to look back at Bucky who was back to laying on the couch with Billy laying on his chest. “Are you going to spend the night?”

“Maybe. I don’t think I should drive anywhere. Do you think Natasha would pick me up?”

“She would.”

“I know she would, I don’t want to explain again why I am upset.”

“Then stay.” Wanda said, it wasn’t the first time Bucky had spent the night and she had extra blankets and pillows he could use. Her house could be used as a place for some of the others to crash at if they went on the run again. The house was under a dummy name that Pym’s daughter Hope van Dyne had set up for her when Pym sheltered them all. In the past year the only one who had been close to being caught were the Bartons, Tony had known about the farmhouse and it hadn’t taken him very long to figure out where exactly it was. Luckily they had been warned ahead of time and Clint had gotten his wife and three children out before military came to arrest Clint. She was glad the archer was safe, he was kind and understanding even if Pietro had annoyed him in the brief time he’d known Pietro. Pietro had annoyed her from time to time.

“Did you mean it?” Bucky asked as Wanda picked up the sleeping Billy to put him back to bed.

“Mean what?” She asked giving him a funny look.

“When you said that if Steve wanted anyone to be Captain America he’d want it to be me?”

“Yes.” Steve had spent two years searching for Bucky, a year before she’d met him and then the year after. There were periods where he had to do other things, Avenger things, but as soon as they were done he was back on the hunt. Sam called it their missing persons case, Natasha was the one to explain to her what Bucky had meant to Steve and what he still meant to Steve. Bucky was the other half of Steve’s soul, just as Pietro’s had been her’s in the most platonic sense. Steve had told her once that at times during the war he’d felt he could sense what Bucky was thinking. He’d loved Bucky, and Peggy, in the same way. He had looked her dead in the eyes and told her that you can love more than one person, the heart has an abundance of love. He and Peggy had unfortunately lost their time together, and he had been glad she found someone else, and he had hoped that he and Bucky though could have another chance, a chance they didn’t have in 1945. “He loved you.”

She left the conversation there and carried Billy back upstairs to bed before going to bed herself. Bucky would be there in the morning if he wanted to continue the conversation, and if he didn’t well they’d never had to speak of it again.

She woke up to a text message from Bucky the next morning. **I will consider Pym’s offer**. She smiled a bit to herself, the world needed Captain America, and Bucky needed him too.

~Time in a Bottle~

Bucky came by two or three times a week after that. They didn’t mention the conversation they’d held or Pym’s offer, mostly just took care of the twins. Bucky would watch them so she could go grocery shopping or just do something for herself like going for a walk or hanging out with Natasha. Being a single mother was tough, and she was grateful for Bucky and everyone else coming by to make sure she was okay. Sam stopped by as well to see the twins, he’d only been over twice since they’d been born. He’d taken on the role of leader since Steve’s death, it wasn’t the role he was the most comfortable with, but he was making it work. “He just doesn’t stop moving.” Sam said laughing as he held Tommy.

“Pietro was the same way.” Wanda said fondly. “He was always getting into trouble with our parents, he would take one toy out get bored with it, go find another and forget to pick up the one before it.” Teachers were constantly calling their parents in for conferences because Pietro had done something because he couldn’t sit still. If he’d been here in America they’d probably have diagnosed him with an attention disorder. “They look so much like my brother and I did at their age.”

“Hmm.” Sam hummed. “I hear Bucky’s been helping out a lot.” Wanda nodded. “He’s been rather absent lately from missions. It’s to be expected though, he’s still grieving and we all go through the process differently. I’m glad to hear he’s getting some social interactions though.” He didn’t mention anything about the Captain America suit Pym had or that Bucky being Captain America, maybe he didn’t know about it. He didn’t mention Bucky after that, just talked about the twins or let her talk.

~Time in a Bottle~

The anniversary of Steve’s death was two weeks later. She went out with the team minus Bucky to a bar and had a drink in his honor. The news channels all week played video footage of him, spoke to people who knew him including Tony and Rhodey, some casters condemned him others said he was a martyr in the battle for individual liberties. No one saw Bucky all week. Wanda asked her neighbor to watch Billy and Tommy while she went out, Ms. Altman had a son about six months older than the twins, a cute little boy with chubby cheeks and blond hair named Theodore. Maybe one day they would be friends, Wanda liked that idea.

~Time in a Bottle~

Bucky came back two weeks later looking sleep deprived and a little worse for wear. He crashed on her couch and slept there for nearly a day. “I’m going to do it.” He told her when he woke up. “I’ll be Captain America. I’ve done horrible things in the past, and I don’t think I can atone for it all, but I can make a difference.”

“Okay.” Wanda said nodding.

He went out for his first mission as Captain America the next day. The others agreed with her, that Steve would have wanted Bucky to take on the role of Captain America, and they believed in him as much as Steve did.

“Hello.” Natasha cooed to Billy’s face. Billy responded by taking his wet hand out of his mouth and grabbing her hair. Natasha laughed a little. “He’s more mischievous than he originally lets on.” She said to Wanda.

“His brother’s worse.” Wanda said warily looking over at Bucky who was holding the smiling Tommy. They were three and a half months old now, and they were starting to become more active. They could smile, roll over, in fact Tommy was rolling everywhere, Billy was more content to just have someone pick him up and put him where he wanted to go.

“I bet.” Natasha said still laughing. Bucky completed his first assignment as Captain America two nights ago and then proceeded to lock himself up in his apartment, according to Nat, and she decided that he needed to go out, be sociable and stop brooding so much. They came here to play with the twins.

A knock at the door made both Natasha and Bucky tense, neither of them were in their disguises, Natasha often wore a blond wig while Bucky often just wore a sweatshirt to cover his arm and a pulled down low hat. He’d cut his hair soon after Steve died back to its length during the forties, he liked it better, and that gave him some anonymity. “Go into another room.” Wanda hissed. If it was the government they weren’t likely to knock, which meant that it was probably one of those religious groups that came around every once in a while, or one of her neighbors, she didn’t need either to alert the authorities though that she was harboring fugitives, or that she might be one herself. Billy began to cry, so Wanda took him from Natasha as she went into the downstairs master bedroom.

“Sarah.” She said smiling at her neighbor, Sarah wasn’t smiling though, she held Theodore in her arms and had a bag on her shoulder. “Is everything alright?”

“Can I come in?” Sarah asked, looking nervously over her shoulder.

“Yes, of course.” Wanda said, it was probably a bad idea with Natasha and Bucky hiding in the next room over, but she had an appearance to maintain. She laid Billy down in the playpen before sitting down on the couch beside Sarah, Theodore in her lap. “How can I help you?”

“Could you watch Theodore for me for a few hours? Something urgent came up at work and I have to leave right away.” Sarah asked, her whole body was tense. She seemed to be nervous about something.

“Yeah, of course. Is everything alright?”

“Yes. Thank you so much. Theodore will be a good boy for Ms. Wanda, now won’t you?” Her son responded with a babbling sound. “Mommy loves you, okay.” She kissed him on the top of his head before passing him and his bag over to Wanda. “I brought his diaper bag, there’s everything for changing him and his diaper, plus his favorite toy. I should be back before seven, but sometimes the office can get kind of crazy.” Wanda nodded, carrying Theodore while she walked Sarah to the door.

“I hope you have a safe trip.”

“Thank you.” Sarah said waving goodbye before the door shut behind her. She turned back to the living room, Natasha and Bucky had come out of hiding in her bedroom, Bucky was still holding Tommy while Nat was frowning.

“That was odd.” was all she said. “Theodore huh? He’s cute, going to be a real heartbreaker one of these days.” She tickled under his chin and he began to laugh.

“We help each other out a lot, we are both single mothers. Her husband was a pilot, he died in the war.” She put him down in the playpen beside Billy, Theodore was well behaved, and she didn’t mind watching him, he was easier than Tommy. He sat there in the playpen playing with a ring of plastic keys, letting Billy grab them

“What’s this?” Bucky asked looking through Theodore’s diaper bag. “Is this the Hulk?” Natasha nodded.

“For a while we were popular, they made toys out of us, and comics too. There’s a whole bunch for Cap, he was around for a while. Theodore’s mom must have gotten him one of the last ones there were. You can’t find toys for us anymore, guess it would look bad with kids playing with action figures of the Falcon when he’s on the run.” She explained. Wanda put the stuffed toy in the playpen, smiling as Theodore pet Billy’s hair.

“It’s soft isn’t it?” She asked the nine month old. “One day, you two will be the best of friends won’t you?”

“Friends for life, huh?” Natasha asked.

“Steve and I were.” Bucky said, gently putting the sleeping Tommy on the couch. “I met him when we were six years old. We were both in Mrs. McDowell’s first grade class. Sean McGrady pulled Lucy’s hair on the playground and made her cry. Steve punched him in the gut and then ended up with a black eye before I rescued his sorry ass. He always stood up for the little guy.” Bucky shook his head. “I tried to be Captain America two nights ago, but I- I don’t know if I can do it. I just don’t think I can live up to the legend he was.”

“If you can’t do it then don’t. Hank Pym will understand. He’s a good man.”

“Better than Stark, at least when he developed something highly dangerous he kept it out of the military and SHIELD's reach.” Wanda muttered, she’d started to develop less than hostile feelings for the billionaire till he turned his back on Steve with the Accords and eventually lead to the civil war that made them criminals. He was responsible for her parents death, and he was responsible for Pietro’s death too. She had been right back then, he couldn’t see the difference between saving the world and destroying it.

~Time in a Bottle~

It was late one evening when the fire alarm went off. Wanda jumped out of bed, startled by the noise, red light surrounding her. She could hear Bucky jumping off the couch in the other room. “Is it Stark?” He asked, a hidden gun he kept under the couch in his hands.

“Its just the fire alarm. Help me get the twins.” Panic was coursing through her veins, she couldn’t find the source of the fire, everything on the first floor seemed devoid of it, but as she ran up the stairs she began to smell smoke. She slammed the door open praying to God that there wasn’t a fire in the babies room. The sheets were on fire, Billy was surrounded by a blue bubble of light that reminded Wanda of the shields she could create with her magic, hovering in the air. Tommy too was in a blue bubble, but was vibrating so hard he looked like a blur of green light like her brother had looked when he ran. “Oh God, Bucky.” she gasped. “What did Hydra do to us?” Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would pass down her powers to her children, she hadn’t been born with them, she’d been given them through an experiment, and her brother’s powers too.

Bucky grabbed the fire extinguisher from the laundry room and put down the fire while Wanda picked up both her children and tried to reset the smoke detectors. “What did they do to us?” She asked no one in particular as she sat on the couch, crisis averted, though the smoke alarms going off had set off an alarm at Pym’s place so now her house was visited by Natasha and Sam with Scott on stand by.

“Hydra was trying to create super soldiers.” Natasha said firmly. “They would have wanted to ensure that there would be super soldiers for the next generation too.” Wanda glanced over at her bedroom door where the twins were now sleeping soundly on her bed. Tommy had stopped vibrating, and Billy had lowered his shield as soon as he entered her arms still sleeping.

“They’re eight months old. What if Stark finds out? What if the government finds out? They will take my children from me.”

“It is a very real possibility.” Bucky said, his face blank. “Is there any sign of activity?” Sam shrugged his shoulders.

“There’s no way to know right now, it's been too soon. We’ll know by tomorrow.” He said sadly, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “What do you want to do, Wanda?”

“I don’t know.” She whispered. “When Pietro and I signed up for the experiments we didn’t know what Hydra was. Russia- the Soviet Union had a different version of history, one different from the truth. We didn’t know Hydra was Nazis or we never would have joined, we’re Jewish, we hate Nazis.” She laughed bitterly. “We just wanted revenge, to protect our country men from outside influences that would harm us. I never wanted this.” To be without Pietro, to have to make terribly hard decisions about her children.

“And what do you want for your children?” Sam asked.

“For them to have a normal life. One without powers, or fear from the government. Always looking over their shoulders. Wondering who to trust.”

“Then what will you do?”

“I can manipulate their memories.” Wanda whispered a small sob escaping her throat. “I can give them to two separate families, and make them think that they were their own children. I can give them a better life.” She thought back to the past eight months of their lives, all the smiles she had experienced, the laughter, they were crawling now. Billy loved mash potatoes while Tommy would much prefer to throw them on the floor. Theodore from across the street could say their names, and Billy cried everytime he had to go home. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to give them up. They’re mine, they’re my children, I can’t.”

“No one is saying you have to.” Sam said reassuringly, rubbing her back. Natasha sat down on the other side of her.

“You are their mother, no one will ever force you to change that.” She said quietly.

“Do what you think is right and will be best for your children.” Bucky said, bending down in front of her. “We’ve lost so much Wanda, all of us. Billy and Tommy, your children have brought light back into all of our lives. We will stand by whatever decision you make.” She nodded, wiping her eyes. They had been by her side this whole time, giving her time to raise her children, not pressuring her to rejoin crime fighting, Pym and Scott, and Hope had even been patient with her and they hardly knew her. Hope came by once a month to help her out, and Scott sometimes would bring his daughter Cassie who was only a few years older than them, Hank Pym had bought her this house without asking for a single thing back just so she could raise her children. And none of them were pressuring her to give them up now, not even if they thought it was the best thing. Bucky was right these past eight months they’d been the light of her life, they’d helped her through the loneliness of losing Pietro, of the family she created for herself afterward now shattered, they’d helped Bucky with Steve, with becoming Captain America himself, they’d done so many good things in their short eight months lives and they hadn’t even done a thing.

Crying erupted from the bedroom, Billy no doubt, he could sense the pain emanating from this room. “Can you go get him for me?” She asked Bucky. He nodded, standing up and walked over to the door.

“Hey Billy boy,” she heard him say as he walked in. “Why ya cryin?” He carried her son out to her, wrapped in his blue blanket.

“Could you bring Tommy too?” She choked back a sob as she made her request, laying Billy across her lap. Her fingertips sparkled red as she rested them over her youngest son’s forehead, red light danced around them as she took the memories, leaving only the sound of her voice for him. He likely wouldn’t remember them anyway even if she hadn’t. She also locked his powers away leaving them for when he was most desperate. Then she closed her eyes and reached her mind out looking for someone who was wanting a child, someone who would provide her son with a good life. She found the Kaplans in New York, a nice family, married about a year ago, she waved her hands above Billy swirling him in red light and leaned down to kiss him just before he disappeared. She did the same thing for Tommy when he was placed on her lap, her red finger tips on his forehead removing all memories of herself and his brother leaving only the sound of her voice, and locking his powers away. Then she searched for another family, it was best to separate them in case one was found. The Shepherds lived in New Jersey, not too far from where Billy was, easy to keep an eye on both from afar. And then he too disappeared. Both families now having recollection of  adopting the boys, and neither knowing of each other’s existence. “Moma loves you, my darlings.” she whispered as Tommy disappeared from her lap.

She found herself crying into Natasha’s shoulder for the better part of a quarter of an hour before she was able to gather herself enough to erase her neighbors memories of her and the boys. She loathed to take Theodore’s memories away, but she was afraid he’d ask for Billy and questions start to be asked.

“Come on Wanda, we should go somewhere else.” Sam said as the house began to swirl in red light, all evidence of her living there, gone except for the picture of Pietro and a small locket with the twins pictures in it.

~Time in a Bottle~

She crashed at Natasha’s apartment for a while, not able to face the world the way she had just after she lost Pietro. It was easier not to face the world, she would just stay in her head where Pietro, Billy, and Tommy were and not have to face the realities that they were gone. And then one day she was watching the news, Pietro was sitting on the other side of the couch telling her how the news was boring and complaining that she was watching it, she paid him no mind, he was being silly anyway. The last segment of the news was a phone camera video of Bucky dressed as Captain America saving a woman who had been stuck in a building on fire last night. It was something Steve would have done, in fact for a moment Wanda swore it was Steve until she saw the glint of Bucky’s metal arm. Pietro disappeared, and the twins were no longer sleeping in the other bedroom, and she was alone in Natasha’s apartment where she’d locked herself in for the past two months.

“How did you do it?” She asked him sitting in his apartment’s living room an hour later.

“Become Captain America?” He asked, she nodded.

“I- well you helped a lot, you believed in me, and everyone else believed I could do it. But you were the first to tell me that Steve would want me to do it. And you told me Steve loved me, and if Steve loved me and wanted me to do it then who was I to tell him no?” Bucky laughed humorlessly. “It was the anniversary of his death when I came to that realization. I was out in New York, I wanted to see the old neighborhood, remember better days. There were these people in Times Square out there with mock up of his shield, holding candles and posters that said “We love you Cap,” and “Thank You Captain America,” and “You will never be forgotten.” These people even after a year still loved him, even after all the media, good and bad, they loved him, they believed in him, he meant something to them. And I wanted to give them a chance, I wanted to give them hope, as he had given me. It was hard at first, and some people didn’t like me, some people still don’t. I’m an outlaw, a vigilante, but I try to bring as much hope as possible.”

“I-I would like to do that as well, give people hope.” Wanda admitted. “Give my boys hope. I want to be the Scarlet Witch again.”

“It ain’t easy.” Bucky admitted, scratching the back of his head with his real arm.

“I do not think it would be worth it if it was.”

_If could make days last forever_

_If words could make wishes come true_

_I would save everyday like a treasure_

_And then again I would spend them with you._

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by the Young Avengers comics, the Captain America post Civil War comics, and Avengers 2 to write this. I really like the idea of Bucky picking up the mantel of Captain America if Steve should die in the upcoming movie, but I don't think he would do so lightly. I also love the characters of Wanda, and Billy and Tommy (and Teddy because he worked his way in too) from the Young Avengers comics, if you haven't read them they're good comics and I highly recommend them. They're about a group of teen superheroes who try to fill the void of the Avengers after the Avengers broke up in Avengers Disassembled in 2004 or 2005 I can't quite remember the year. The title and lyrics in the work comes from Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce, it was featured in X-Men Days of Future Past. But yeah I think that's everything, thanks for reading, please leave a review.


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